Quantitative chest computerized tomography and FEV1 equally identify pulmonary exacerbation risk in children with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Background Chest computerized tomography (CT) scores are associated with the frequency of future pulmonary exacerbations in people with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, cut‐off values to identify children with mild lung disease with different risks for frequent future pulmonary exacerbations have not been identified.

Methods Chest CT scans were assessed using the Brody score for participants of the Pulmozyme Early Intervention Trial (PEIT) and Wisconsin Randomized Clinical Trial of CF Newborn Screening (WI RCT). We determined the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for Brody scores and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) to compare with the frequency of pulmonary exacerbations up to 10 years later.

Results There were 60 participants in the PEIT with mean (SD) age 10.6 (1.7) years at the time of the CT and 81 participants in the WI RCT with mean age 11.5 (3.0) years. The Brody score cut‐off that best identified children at‐risk for ≥0.3 annual pulmonary exacerbations was 3.6 in the PEIT and 2.1 in the WI RCT. There were no statistical differences between ROC curves for the Brody CT score and FEV1 % predicted in either study (P ≥ 0.4).

Conclusions CT score cut‐off values that identify children with CF with mild lung disease at different risks for frequent pulmonary exacerbations over an extended follow up period are similar in separate cohorts. Brody scores and FEV1 % predicted have similar abilities to identify these children, suggesting that FEV1 % predicted alone may be adequate for predicting future frequency of pulmonary exacerbations.